Anxiety veteran, panic attack newbie

[ErinKC]

I've had anxiety on and off for many years, mostly totally mild until 4 years ago when my daughter was born and it exploded. I handle it with regular therapy, and while it does surge now and then, the good times are much longer than the bad, and I can usually get things under control quickly. Well, this past month or two I've had two MAJOR panic attacks out of nowhere. I've had panic attacks before, of course, but on in concert with my generalized anxiety disorder - I'll be in an increased anxiety state, worrying about something specific, and the anxiety gets our of hand and leads to a full on panic attack. That's old hat.

But, this is new. These are totally out of nowhere, massive panic attacks. The last one was yesterday while I was driving, which made it 100 times worse. All of the sudden I got light headed, my vision got blurry, my heart started racing, my hands got clammy and shaky, my mouth dried out and I couldn't swallow, and it felt like I had to drag every breath in. I actually had to pull over because I thought I might pass out. It only took a few minutes for my heart rate to get back to normal and for things to settle down, but it was SO upsetting, terrifying, and disconcerting. I haven't had another one, but I still feel so out of sorts from it. I'm having inner ear stuff now, too, from allergies, so I'm sure that contributed to the initial dizziness, which could have been a trigger. So, I still feel wonky and fuzzy - probably from both the full ear and being hyper aware of panic attack symptoms.

I have a therapy appointment on the 22nd, but was hoping for some advice on how you handle panic attacks like this. I don't want to start being afraid to drive or leave my house, etc... I remember that I had one panic attack like this about 17 years ago when my anxiety first started and I didn't know what it was. It took me months to feel ready to get back to normal because I was so scared of having another one any time I left my house. This just sucks!! Any advice is appreciated.

[Suziewuzie]

I'm sorry this happened to you, it's really scary when it happens whilst driving & it sounds like you did the right thing and handled it really well.
I think talking it through with your therapist and developing your own coping techniques will help a lot. For me, I manage it by doing exactly what you did - I pull over. I try to ground myself by doing the "5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch" etc. I sit and be kind to myself, tell myself "set off again when you're ready, and if you need to pull over again so what? Stop as much as you need to!" Over the past few months I've spent a lot of time sitting on hard shoulders/lay bys waiting for my body to stop shaking and my breath to slow down. I've found telling myself "do NOT panic now Suzie!" Really was what made it worse for me. Now I tell myself "Ok if you're panicking it's fine, you pull over and you calm yourself then you set off again when you're ready" and I try to apply that with any situation now. If I'm panicking & I need to leave then I do. I ground myself either by doing the see/hear/touch thing, I also slow my breathing my tracing up and down each of my fingers counting up 1, down 2, up 3, down 4 etc. Breathing in and out as I do.
I do also have an audio on my phone designed to listen to when you're having a panic attack but sometimes it's not practical to listen to.